I count myself lucky to live in the relative calm of the countryside, a safe distance away from the chaos and claustrophobia(幽闭恐惧症) of city life. However, I have to venture into the urban jungle every day to work and it's then that I realise how rude city dwellers can be.
我很庆幸自己生活在乡村里，乡村相对要平静些，它远离吵杂和城市生活的幽闭恐惧症。然后我每天还是不得不进入城市丛林里去工作，然后，我才意识到城市居民能够如此粗暴。
Maybe I'm being unfair. Not everyone comes from the city – many of us commute from somewhere else and, together with a large number of tourists, we are all squeezed into this small space – so it's no surprise that we get irritable and hot under the collar.
也许我说的并不对，并不是每一个人都来自城市——我们中间很多人从别处赶来上班的，还有很多游客，我们全都挤进这个狭小的空间——所以，我们变得烦躁易怒并不奇怪。
Competing for a space on the Tube train or bus is only one of the reasons that makes us grumpy. Our rush to get into the office and home again means we have no time to make conversation with other people: we are driven by efficiency. Thomas Farley, writer and broadcaster explains that, "We’re in a rush, we’re off to a meeting, to a luncheon… and I don’t think it’s a bad thing, I just think we need to be mindful that it’s not a deliberate disregard or somebody’s trying to be rude on purpose." So we are not trying to be rude, we just have something important on our mind to think about.
在地铁或者公交车上争夺空间是使我们易怒的原因之一，我们匆忙上班，匆忙回家意味着我们没有时间与他人交谈：我们被效率所驱使。托马斯法理，一名作家兼播音员，他解释说，“我们处于匆忙中，急着去参加会议，去参加一场午宴......但是我不认为这是一件坏事，我只是认为我们需要注意，这并不是故意漠视或者某人试图故意变得粗暴”。所以我们不愿意变得粗暴，只是在我们的内心有一些更重要的事情需要思考。
Cities can, however, be scary places – especially if you're not used to them and this can make us reluctant to start a conversation. We might be hyper-vigilant thinking that the person next to us is going to kill us or worse still, get into conversation with us! Dr Elle Boag, a social psychologist at Birmingham City University, agrees that people can view cities as threatening places. She says, "We’re persistently looking for potential threats around us, and this then makes us not give eye contact, this will reduce the likelihood that anybody will say hello." She calls this our 'protective mechanism' which is another way that makes us appear antisocial.
然而，城市可以是可怕的地方——尤其是如果我们不习惯城市的生活时，这使得我们不愿意开始交谈。我们也许会高度警觉，总认为我们旁边的人试图杀害我们或者更糟的是与我们进行交谈！Elle Boag博士，伯明翰城市大学的一名社会心理学家，她说，“我们执意去寻找我们周围可能存在的威胁，而这使得我们不会进行眼神交流，这会减少与任何人打招呼的可能性”，她称其为“保护机制”，这也是让我们显得不喜社交的原因之一。
Perhaps if we did start talking more to each other we may realise that our fellow train or bus passenger is actually quite normal with the same concerns and that if you have to grin and bear the pressures of city life, at least you can do it together. In London, a group called 'Talk to me London' is trying to encourage just that. They have created 'Tube Chat' badges which you can wear to show you're happy to talk to a stranger.
也许如果我们开始彼此交谈，我们可能会意识到我们的同伴地铁或公共汽车上的乘客实际上和我们一样遇到同样的问题，如果我们对城市生活的压力忍气吞声，至少我们能够一起面对。在伦敦，有一个“伦敦与我谈话”的群体，他们试图去鼓励这种行为，他们创建了“地铁聊天”徽章，你戴上它就表明你很高兴与陌生人谈话。
But of course, you may choose to live in the city in order to be anonymous– to blend in with the crowd – and not have to talk to people! Maybe that's the benefit of living in the city: you can be who you like – and as rude as you like. Do you think people in your city seem to be rude?
但是，当然你可以选择匿名的方式生活在城市里——淹没在人群中——不必与人交谈！也许这就是在城市里生活的福利：你可以成为你喜欢的人——也可以有你喜欢的粗暴。你认为你所在的城市里人们看起来粗暴吗？
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